Daily Topics - Tuesday January 25th, 2011
By shawnt56
Truthout is proud to bring you an exclusive series from America's No. 1 progressive radio host, Thom Hartmann. We'll be publishing weekly installments, "Rebooting the American Dream."
Hour One: President Obama's Second State of the Union Speech tonight...what should we expect?
Hour Two: Why is Glenn Beck targeting Frances Fox Piven...and what is her true mission? Frances Fox Piven, Political Science rofessor-City University of New York - www.gc.cuny.edu - Plus, State of the Union Speech preview - Jen Psaki-White House Deputy Communications Director - www.whitehouse.gov
Hour Three: Should teen sex be taboo on TV? Jesse Walker, Managing Editor-Reason Magazine - www.reason.com
Comments
#2
My View on This Evenings State of the Union Speech:
President Obama has made real progress on 70 to 80 percent of his campaign pledges. That said, there is real work left to do AND thanks to low-information 'independent' voters, our wishy-washy, just-right-of-the-center-of-the-road, pro-corporatist President has to contend with a crap-load of proto-fascists to get it done. The outcome will not be good for We, the People.
On the other hand, the SotU will be less likely to be a drinking game than it was when President GWBush delivered it.
#3
With an ignorant work force, we could vie for the title of "Welfare Queen of The World" except the "Defense" industry wrapped that up years ago. But, we could become so ignorant that we'd export our "Defense" industry to other countries. That'll show 'em! At least until we try to get the guns, bombs, missiles, ships, and planes shipped to us ...
Never mind the previous series of non-sequiturs - I didn't pass logic or history.
#4
So is the Justice Department pursuing Thomas and Scalia, or are we just being redirected to look over here... look at the shiny State of the Union address, look at the probable Republican Presidential candidate polling numbers, look at.... well anything other than apparent evidence that incriminates two Supreme Court Justices that could very well lead to their impeachment.
By the way, does impeachment of Supreme Court Judges originate in the House of Representatives as does impeachment of the President?
Either way, I'd really want to know why this story is being ignored not only in main stream media but barely even discussed in progressive media.
N
#5
Umm, its been a while since I was a teenager, but even so, whether or not there was programming promoting sex, was probably pretty irrelevant. My raging hormones did more promotion of sex in my mind than any advertisement would. Now cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, those needed peer pressure and advertising to enter my conscience, but sex, no need to push that on my teenage years.
Besides should we ban Romeo and Juliet?
N
#6
I, also, have real issue with the infantilization of adults. Teens are not just old children; they are young adults . . .
#7
Limbaugh is an idiot for (among countless other reasons) saying Obama gets ideas from the Communist Manifesto. The Manifesto has no ideas in it; it's just a statement on the progress of the communist movement. Limbaugh should have referred to Das Kapital.
#8
@THOM: You have gotta review on an on-going basis just who you speak support for . . .
I have been to PDA meetings . . . AND left due to them adopting their "Israel has no right to exist" platform.
Sometimes the enemy of your enemy will kill you just to watch you and your family die.
#9
Thomas's bad acts fails under high crimes and misdemeanors . . . AND was bad form. He IS impeachable.
#10
Perhaps, we have to take a serious look at teen years. It isn't right that at 17 years and 364 days your a child, and the next day your an adult. That's not realistic. The other big issue, as I alluded to above, is this, whether parents like it or not, around the age of 13 nature takes charge. I mean some parents would outlaw puberty if they could, but guess what, its not going to happen. So instead censoring what a teenager sees, perhaps it is better to discuss what they are seeing, as well as what they are going through... and perhaps, just perhaps it might be wise to address such issues around 10 or 11 years old. I don't know, but obviously pretending a 14 year old doesn't know a hell of a lot about the basic function of sex, is just ludicrous. I saw a few of the first episodes of Skins when it appeared on the BBC. It didn't seem any more intense then the Daytime Soaps my wife watches. Besides whats the problem with teens seeing simulated sex acts, it happens all the time on TV. So is the big problem Thom is having is that teen actors are simulating sex on TV?
N
#11
@rladlof, I think more than Thomas is impeachable, but where is the outrage that will push for it, not to mention other SCrOTUS members.
N
#12
@rladlof, isn't going to such groups to voice your opinion and represent your views exactly what Thom is asking? I mean I've heard him push for Republican'ts to show up to their party meetings and take the party back, but I doubt he is voicing support for the Republican't party. I have been going to my local Green Party meetings since last June, mostly because of Thoms' prodding listeners like me to do so. Now I wouldn't say I agree entirely with every members point of view, and well I can't say they have put forth any such divisive platform as PDA seems to have done. I'm happy to contribute what I can. Perhaps you should try (if you haven't already) going to different group meetings, find like minded people and contribute. Grass roots need to grow everywhere, can't hurt to try out different gardens.
N
#13
January 25, 2011
Information is power. Americans who receive correct and truthful information have power. One great source for information is Thom Hartmann. With the information he shares I feel empowered to also share information. The conservatives seek to control you and me through hatred, lies, fear, and manipulation.
#14
Thom,
Regarding Skins. I have not seen the show. Does it have any couples who are gay? If not, I think the purpose of the show is to reach young people and make sure they understand very clearly what is normal: This is what a "normal" relationship is, this is how normal people have sex. Any deviation and you don't fit. To me, it looks like propaganda to try to counter the uprise in support that the gay community is seeking and finding in some other venues.
SP
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
With His Holiness The Dalai Lama, at His home in Dharamsala, India (Synthesis Dialogues - made into a movie narrated by Harrison Ford)
From Cracking the Code:
"Thom Hartmann ought to be bronzed. His new book sets off from the same high plane as the last and offers explicit tools and how-to advice that will allow you to see, hear, and feel propaganda when it's directed at you and use the same techniques to refute it. His book would make a deaf-mute a better communicator. I want him on my reading table every day, and if you try one of his books, so will you."
From Screwed:
"If we are going to live in a Democracy, we need to have a healthy middle class. Thom Hartmann shows us how the ‘cons’ have wronged this country, and tells us what needs to be done to reclaim what it is to be American."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"In an age rife with media-inspired confusion and political cowardice, we yearn for a decent, caring, deeply human soul whose grasp of the problems confronting us provides a light by which we can make our way through the quagmire of lies, distortions, pandering, and hollow self-puffery that strips the American Dream of its promise. How lucky we are, then, to have access to the wit, wisdom, and willingness of Thom Hartmann, who shares with us here that very light, grown out of his own life experience."
Obama has proven to be an excellent lawyer. When he talks, he gives the listener an impression, an impression that cannot be proven from his words. Case in point, he campaigned using two grandiose words, Hope & Change; but when it comes down to it, hope for what and how is change enacted? Those answers were left to the audience to imagine, but when a constituent complains that he hasn't delivered upon what he promised, it becomes a philosophical argument. Such arguments can be debated to the end of time, with no definitive answer as a result. Now some would say that Obama is an excellent politician, but IMHO a politician is not concerned about being honest, they will lie whenever it suits them; however Obama, like any great lawyer, uses words to create impressions, but if you parse his words, no actual lie can be found. (Not saying lawyers don't lie, just saying the great ones know how to create a false truth, if you will).
Whether or not you agree with his eventual choices, listen carefully to what Obama says prior to any decision, you'll find more often than not he always leaves his options open ended.
I don't know if I care to be frustrated about it or not, in a lot of ways, he has delivered some worthwhile policies, though on the other hand he has ignored or enabled terrible policies. When it comes down to it, I feel I have at least got a few good policies out of this administration, which is far more than I expect I would have received from a Republican admin. I'll probably always vote for any Democratic candidate over a Republican one, even though I'm a Green Party member, I doubt I'll ever have the chance to vote for a Green Politician at a national level with any serious hope of an outcome I desire. I wouldn't even say I'm choosing the lesser of two evils, no I guess I choosing the slower of two evils, in hopes that it will give the progressive movement time to act.
Always feels like a Pyrrhic victory though. It is my guess many that supported Obama feel likewise too.
N